27th April 2010, Sierra Leone – Sabatu Koroma, 28, groaned as she lay helplessly on the stretcher of the motorcycle ambulance. She had just arrived at the United Brethren in Christ Hospital in Mattru Jong – a fishing village in Sierra Leone’s Bonthe district – where she was rushed following complications with her pregnancy.Ms. Koroma's baby had been still-born at home in her village. After a more than 10-hour labour, the placenta was caught in the mother's womb.A long journey and high costsIt took two hours to make the 25-km journey to the hospital. First, Ms. Koroma was carried on hammock by neighbours to the main road leading to Mattru Jong. Then she was placed on a rickety ferry m...

27th April, 2010, Europe - Children’s right to not be hit by grownups has been under debate in the Council of Europe. Its lobbying comes on the heels of the Council’s campaign (launched two years ago) encouraging everyone to ban the corporal punishment of children outright.The 47-country Council says 20 members have outlawed child-smacking in any form. Britain is one country that has refused a full ban — attracting criticism.A French law has been proposed. “I support it,” said one parent, interviewed at random, “but a spanking too, sometimes.” A traditionalist added: “A spanking brings a five-year-old into line.”Progressives say laws will work wonders. Elisabeth Dahlin, wit...

26th April, 2010 - G8 development ministers should take a strong stand on fulfilling the global promise to reduce maternal and child mortality and eliminate health disparities among nations and communities, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the Canadian government. The development ministers are meeting in Halifax this week to lay the foundation for the June 2010 G8 meeting. Human Rights Watch said that the Canadian government's pledge to make maternal and child health a G8 priority is a positive sign.  Canada and all G8 countries should work to reduce disparities in access to sexual and reproductive health care and to promote health system accountability, comprehensive sexual and ...

23rd April, 2010, Washington - The global economic crisis is projected to hamper progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and will directly impact MDGs related to hunger, child and maternal health, gender equality, access to clean water and disease control, according to a report released Friday by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).According to the "Global Monitoring Report 2010: MDGs after the Crisis", the economic crisis will result in 53 million more people remaining in extreme poverty by 2015 than otherwise would have."These findings by the IMF and World Bank are a shocking portrait of just how badly the crisis has hit poor countries. This is a wake-...

April 19th, 2010 (IPS), United Nations - As African countries continue their relentless battle against the spread of malaria, a global fund to fight the deadly tropical disease has fallen short of expectations.In a report released Monday, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said that total annual global funding reached about 2.0 billion dollars from external sources by the end of 2009, an almost 10-fold increase.Still, that amount was less than the estimated 6.0 billion dollars required annually by the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP) to ensure universal coverage of malaria control interventions.The good news is that there was a five-fold increase in global production of insecticide-treated n...

15th April 2010, Dakar, Senegal — Thousands of children in Senegal  are forced to beg on the streets under the pretext that they are receiving religious instruction, Human Rights Watch said in a report Thursday that urged the government to crack down on the long-established phenomenon.In 2008, former students who had fled Senegal were welcomed back to Gabu, Guinea-Bissau. Human Rights Watch says that thousands of children are abused in Senegal’s religious schools.At least 50,000 such children are on the streets of this impoverished West African nation’s cities, the report said, “subjected to conditions akin to slavery.”Brandishing begging bowls and tin cans at passers-by and m...